IBF will not order immediate Peterson-Khan rematch

IBF Championships Chairman, Lindsay Tucker, told RingTV.com on Friday that his organization has decided not to order an immediate rematch of Lamont Peterson’s upset split-decision victory over Amir Khan last Saturday after having reviewed both the three judges’ scorecards as well as a DVD of the clash that was provided by Khan’s promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, on the fighter’s behalf.

Peterson edged Khan, 113-112 on the cards of judges George Hill of New Jersey and Valerie Dorsett of North Carolina, losing 115-110 on that of Nelson Vazquez of Puerto Rico.

Organizations assign their own official scorers to bouts as backup references, and WBA representative Michael Welsh scored it a draw, according to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, while the IBF’s rep Paul Ortiz had it for Peterson, said Tucker.

“We reviewed all three scorecards as well as a master scorecard and a tape of the fight,” said Tucker. “We reviewed the cards and found no descrepancies that would affect the outcome or the result of the fight.”

Golden Boy Promotions had initially requested that Washington D.C.Boxing and Wrestling Commission chairman Scottie Irving overturn the result of the win by Peterson (30-1-1, 15 knockouts) over Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) in relation to what Schaefer has alledged are scoring discrepancies and poor officiating.

Shaefer’s reaction to the verdict was short.

“I’m not surprised,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It’s the IBF.”

Peterson was grateful.

“Again, as I said after the fight on Saturday. I am truly proud to be the newly-crowned IBF/WBA junior welterweight champion of the world,” stated Peterson, in a text from his publicist.

“I also applaud the decision by the IBF and I look forward to doing everything in my power inside and outside of the ring to represent the IBF and WBA as the new champion.”

Khan was deducted one point each during the the seventh and 12th rounds by Virginia’s Joe Cooper, who was chosen by the commission from a list of four referees provided by the IBF, according to Tucker and Irving. Khan was penalized for pushing Peterson’s head down in the seventh, and for shoving Peterson away in the 12th.

“We decided not to order an immediate rematch on the basis of the fact that in the rules, if the referee feels that it’s a foul, then that’s his call to take a point. In that fight, he did warn Khan several times before he actually took the first point,” said Tucker.

“At one point, before he took the point, Cooper said, ‘this is the final warning.’ I believe that that was in sixth round, because he took the point in the seventh round. But before he took the point, he did say ‘this is the final warning,’ and then, he did take the point.”

Schaefer had drawn hope from the IBF’s having ordered two notable rematches largely as a result of fouls that took place.

The IBF ordered an immediate rematch between winner Abner Mares and former bantamweight titleholder Joseph Agbeko after referee Russell Mora failed to penalize Mares for repeated low blows in their fight on Aug. 13 on Showtime.

Peoples felt another fight was warranted after reviewing replays of their bout with Tucker, including an 11th-round knockdown punch that Mora ruled legal even though replays clearly showed the punch landing on Agbeko’s cup.

Mares won the Showtime-televised return bout by unanimous decison over Agbeko on Dec. 3. The move by Khan’s camp, said Tucker, is similar to the formal protest made by Agbeko’s promoter, Don King, but with a subtle difference.

“I know that Golden Boy was saying that it was the same case as it was with Mares. But in the case of Abner Mares, the difference between what happened with Khan’s situation and what happened with the Mares-Agbeko fight was that the guy who actually lost the first fight, Agbeko, was the guy who had been fouled,” said Tucker.

“This last fight, the guy who lost the fight was the guy who was committing the fouls. Khan was the guy who was holding down the head and using the elbows and doing the pushing.”

The IBF also ordered an immediate rematch of the cruiserweight title bout in which Steve Cunningham lost his belt by sixth-round technical decision to Yoan Pablo Hernandez on Oct. 1 in Neubrandenburg, Germany.

The fighters accidentally clashed heads twice in the early rounds, causing a cut over Hernandez’s right eye that widened as the fight progressed. In the sixth round, Hernandez’s trainer, Ulli Wegner, asked for an examination by referee Mickey Vann, who then stopped the bout on the advice of ringside doctor Walter Wagner.

Tucker said that he and Peoples reviewed the video of the clash and determined that there “was an improper stoppage of the title fight.” They then oredered Hernandez and Cunningham to fight a return bout.